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Updated: August 6, 2025 @ 3:19 am
Willie Randall and Donald Burton invite Lakelands area former students and faculty of Brewer High School in Greenwood to get involved with the school’s national alumni association. Members are getting ready for two days of events, including awarding college scholarships.
DONALD BURTON
WILLIE RANDALL
DONALD BURTON
WILLIE RANDALL
Willie Randall and Donald Burton invite Lakelands area former students and faculty of Brewer High School in Greenwood to get involved with the school’s national alumni association. Members are getting ready for two days of events, including awarding college scholarships.
Brewer High School National Alumni Association Inc. Upcoming events for former students, faculty 6–9 p.m. Aug. 23, White Party Affair. Attire: all white, Piedmont Technical College Medford Event Center, 620 South Emerald Road. 9:45 a.m. Aug. 24, arrive for a morning worship service at Tabernacle Baptist Church, 424 Baptist Ave., Greenwood. Fellowship dinner to follow. The annual meeting of the association is typically the first weekend of September. Visit: brewerhsalumni.org.
Former Brewer High students and faculty are prepping for the annual meeting of the school’s national alumni association.
Attendees will recognize selected college scholarship recipients and highlight the Brewer High School legacy.
Four $2,000 college scholarships will be awarded. Events include two days of activities.
Willie Randall, 78, who graduated from Brewer High School in 1966, is president of the school’s national alumni association, established in 1996 and a former basketball standout.
“Our scholarship initiatives have increased,” Randall said, noting two are earmarked for students attending historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) and two scholarships for students attending non-HBCU schools.
“We are a 501©3 nonprofit,” Randall said. “Every penny that we’ve got over the years from Brewer alumni has gone to more than 30 student scholarships, totaling approximately $50,000. Every year, our list of alumni support grows.”
Brewer High alumni are in places far and near, Randall said, including Japan, Germany and California.
Among this year’s scholarship recipients is Quaimar Cloud of Greenwood, who plans to attend Fayetteville State University in North Carolina.
“This scholarship means a lot to me,” Cloud relayed in a recent text message to the Index-Journal. “It is an award given to support my education. It’s money that can help me afford tuition, books and other educational experiences, reducing the amount of student loans, allowing me to focus on my studies.”
Cloud said his grandparents attended Brewer High.
Donald Burton, 70, attended Brewer High for three years, 1968-70, arriving as a seventh grader who made the senior band as a drummer his first year at Brewer.
“We want to reach more young people who are descendants of Brewer High School people,” Burton said. “This school, you didn’t want to miss coming to school here. The mind, body and spirit of it was something. The food was good. The sports were good, and academics—they made sure you got your lessons. They weren’t going to settle for a ‘C’. You had to study.”
Burton said the alumni association will also recognize posthumously individuals who attended Brewer High.
With formation of Greenwood District 50, Brewer School became the high school for Black students. Brewer High School offered a variety of vocational courses and prepared students for further education to become teachers and other professionals.
School sites on East Cambridge Avenue in Greenwood predate Brewer High School. They involve a progression from the Hodges Institute, a Baptist school, to Brewer Normal School, a school for newly emancipated African Americans, and eventually, Brewer High School. Now, on that property are the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Lakelands Region.
Brewer High School National Alumni Association Inc. festivities include a party with an all-white dress code.
“We’re partying with a purpose,” Burton explains. “The alumni association is collecting scholarship money, to give to young students who are descendants of those who attended Brewer High School. Every penny we raise goes to scholarship. It’s all about the Bulldogs. We’re trying to make sure the history of this school is not lost.”
The alumni association is also selling T-shirts and sweatshirts to raise funds.
Donaghy can be reached at 864-943-2518 or sdonaghy@indexjournal.com.
DONALD BURTON
WILLIE RANDALL
Upcoming events for former students, faculty
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